Oh, it’s infamous. It’s damned hypocrisy. You don’t care if I’ve taken the money or not. You’re afraid of your own skin. And you’re jealous of me. It’s envy. I knew you envied me all the time. D’you think I’ve been taken in by you? You were a little tin god in Middlepool till I came along. You didn’t fight me like a man. You just sided with me, waiting for your chance to trip me up. You think when I’m gone you’ll have the field to yourself. Why shouldn’t you be the member as well as I? It’s mean. It’s mean. You with your damned Christianity, your parrot cries of honesty. Damn you! Damn you! Damn you! JAMES FORD. [_Quietly._] You see, you’ve gone too far. I shall never make you understand. You can’t realize that a man may be honest, even if he loses by it, just because he can’t help it, because he’s made straight as some men are made crooked. GEORGE WINTER. It’s childish. JAMES FORD. You’ve got through the world by knowing that nine men out of ten are rascals. You’ve forgotten that the tenth man must cross your path at last. [_When he hears these words_ GEORGE WINTER _gives a start, and he looks at_ FORD _with staring, terrified eyes. He passes his hand over his forehead, trying to recall._ GEORGE WINTER. [_Almost to himself._] Who said that to me before? [_There is a pause._ JAMES FORD. Good-bye, George. My promise holds. GEORGE WINTER. [_Bitterly._] It’s no good to me. I’m like a rat in a trap. You can get what fun you like out of seeing me wriggle. [_For a moment_ JAMES FORD _looks at him, then silently goes out_. GEORGE WINTER _is seized with a horrible, convulsive trembling. He shakes as a man might shake in an ague. With his quick mind he sees that no subtlety will save him now; he is up against the blank wall of a character as strong as his own. In a moment_ CATHERINE _enters the room_. GEORGE WINTER. What the devil d’you want? CATHERINE. I heard Mr. Ford go. May I speak to you now? [GEORGE WINTER _makes an effort to appear composed_. GEORGE WINTER. Well? CATHERINE. Now that the election is over you can have no further use for me. I’ve carried out my part of the bargain scrupulously. GEORGE WINTER. [_Putting his hand in a dazed way to his head._] I don’t know what you’re talking about. CATHERINE.